#anon i think u just like tragedies which is ok 👍

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

You might’ve already got this before, and I’m asking this in genuinely good faith.

Your essay was very interesting, and convinced me of Erikar as a ship reading. I also really enjoyed your dissection of Eridan as a very honest person drawn into destructive behavior. It very much lines up with his status as a Prince of Hope! One who destroys conviction/belief through conviction/belief.

What confused me was your insistence on the hidden hand of the author. Death of the Author and all that, what’s implied in the text can be taken on its own separate from commentary but you seem to be doing an autopsy— the text implies [this] so *Hussie* must have intended for [this] and then tried to cover it up. If they genuinely thought it was a better ending, why not do it? Why the secrecy, why the feints? I think it’s a little conspiracy-brained to insist on a secret “better ending” that we don’t have author’s word or drafts on.

I’m also a little drifted on your frustration with the deaths of the trolls? You write that the theme of Homestuck— a standard coming-of-age story, a reckoning with society and the exit from youth— is undercut by the deaths of the trolls, because that means they *had* to die, in *punishment*. I disagree. Their deaths are tragic, not just.

Homestuck has a lot of methods of revival, the choice to (for the most part) perma-kill some characters (the trolls for one, and then AR, WQ, and WK) is a deliberate choice to make death mean something. If dying doesn’t mean anything, what are the narrative stakes? Murderstuck marks Gamzee as a threat, Eridan as a tragedy. The deaths there are meant. To be sad. To demonstrate that sometimes kids don’t get to grow up, that sometimes the society they live in cuts them down.

Homestuck is a sad story at times! It doesn’t need an ending where everyone gets to live to keep its coming-of-age conclusion.

I hope this made sense. I’m not trying to attack you, I’m just skeptical of some of your points. I hope you go on to do more analysis in the future!

If you want to believe that, go ahead 👍 again, arguing my points on that front would require its own entire essay, lol, so I'm not really planning to do that as the answer to an ask. The only thing I really want to say here is that while Homestuck is often sad, as you say, its underlying tone is unwaveringly hopeful right up until Game Over/the Retcon, and even kind of beyond that. If you prefer a sad story, then you can have a sad story, but it's just not a reading consistent (to me) with the entire rest of what Homestuck is.

For example, the whole narrative grapples with the debate of predestination vs. free will. Do things happen in Homestuck because they have to, or because characters are making choices? But with the introduction of John's retcon powers, it lands firmly in the "free will" side of the debate: the retcon powers outright defy the power of stable time loops - a reflection of how Breath is associated with freedom and choice. This is the optimistic option.

Another thing the narrative grapples with is the realness vs. fakeness of magic. I don't think it's hard to argue that between LE's "evil wizard" status and Godtier!Calliope's wand-induced black hole that the arrow falls firmly in the realm of magic being undeniably real. This is the optimistic option (and yet another narrative element that Eridan is extremely relevant to).

Moreover, even post-Retcon, there are elements that are kept that soften the tragedy already present in the story - for example, the concept of the Ultimate Self, and the implication that all surviving characters will eventually achieve it, takes the edge off all their doomed and dead counterparts, who won't actually be relegated to double death in the dream bubbles, since in a way, they'll live on through their alpha counterparts. It turns those sacrifices from bitter to bittersweet, and serves as a counterpoint to common takes like John being sad that he doesn't know the version of his friends that exist post-Retcon. The inclusion of it in the post-Retcon story, even with its botched delivery, says to me that Homestuck is still intended to be optimistic at its core, even with the extreme Giving Up that Hussie did.

And let's not forget how Calliope gets to come back to life, no strings attached, and that her stated purpose is only to live. Up to the end, the tone is that of HOPE, and I think there's no mistake that HOPE is supposed to be what defeats LE.

As I said in replies on that post, as an artist, I just can't imagine spending literal years, and literally a million words and thousands of images, writing something that's so thematically and tonally consistent, only to hard swerve right at the end, without extenuating circumstances.

And the thing is, there WERE extenuating circumstances, and they're fairly well-documented.

The kickstarter got funded, and while the story is muddled, we know the production of the game was extremely troubled, and Hussie was having difficulty being a project lead for that while also grappling with everything else. Everything else being, of course, an ever-increasing number of irons in the fire - more third-party artists he had to commission and manage, more merchandise he had to be on top of, bigger updates to sate the demands of the fanbase.

Which, speaking of, was infamously one of the most awful and toxic fanbases to ever exist, and one that Hussie has deliberately attempted to distance himself from since. I can't imagine the kind of daily abuse, harassment, callouts, and worse that Hussie had to endure as Homestuck's creator during the fandom's peak years. I don't blame him at all for turning against them.

Therefore, given the way the tone and themes hard swerve, the way several characters get bent entirely out of shape (you're telling me Karkat had several means before him of bringing his dead friends back and WOULDN'T SAY ANYTHING???), the way several plot threads are simply left dangling in the air, and the way some characters reach really weird and unpleasant conclusions (davepeta, gcatavrosprite), I think it's actually LESS reasonable to assume that the ending we got was the original plan. Hussie saw that to do the ending he wanted to do back in act 4, he'd need to write for a year, maybe two years more, and then looked at his mounting stress and pressure, and looked at the fanbase he'd come to hate, and just went "nope." And I can't even really blame him for it, lol. In his position I'd probably do the same.

Also, please don't mistake "the deaths are undone" for "the deaths will not have mattered" - I think there's a reason that the game over timeline characters still exist post-Retcon. Their arcs don't end with their deaths, and their failures are weights on them that must be narratively resolved - I believe that they go on to be the ones to defeat LE, although I have much less evidence to support this. It just makes narrative sense to me - the post-retcon team focuses down the Felt, various Jack Noirs, and the Condesce - the latter of which is their final boss, as the ultimate representation of the shitty society they're doing away with on their path to creating a new one.

Meanwhile, the dead and "irrelevant" versions of the characters, the ones who grappled with and were harmed the most by what LE represents - immaturity, selfishness, and cruelty - go on to band together after death, and defeat him in the bubbles, a culmination of their vengeance for the havoc he wreaked. And with him being destroyed in the bubbles by the dead and irrelevant, symbolically, he will be rendered nothing more than a bad dream for the waking, relevant, and alive.

Thus Gamzee is still an antagonist, although it becomes (Gamzee) and (Equius) who go on to form LE. Those deaths and those failures still matter, they still happen, they still have narrative weight. Even without the Game Over versions of the characters still existing and still being important, the decision to welcome antagonists like Gamzee and Eridan back into the fold is rendered more complex and more significant BECAUSE we've seen how badly they can go.

The speech originally given by post-Retcon Vriska to (Vriska) is also, to me, a weird artifact of this hypothetical original ending - as it exists within the actual comic, it's said by the wrong person to the wrong person - Vriska with her character development reset to a (Vriska) who's had her characterization destroyed in order to make the first Vriska seem more right. I think originally, it would've come from (Karkat) to Meenah, the latter of which being the one whose idea it was to fuck off with the treasure, and who caused the Beforus team's worst problems, and who has a track record of fucking off whenever she's tasked with taking responsibility. Thus, it would serve as a conclusion to Meenah and Karkat's arc, as well as Game Over Sadkat's arc specifically, would convince Vriska to go with him, and would give Meenah some narrative commeuppance, which would kickstart some sort of Beforan troll feelings jam that would rally them together to actually be useful for once in their lives/afterlives and contribute to the LE fight.

Again, if you PREFER the sad ending, I can't stop you, but the reason I'm going in on there being an "original ending" that isn't sad is because the sad ending doesn't make narrative sense. Why is the ultimate self speech coming from a combination of two characters that barely spoke? Why is it triumphant that Meenah and character-development-reset Vriska get to be the big goods in the fight with LE? Why do multiple prophecies suddenly get dropped right at the end when all other prophecies DO come true? Why does Karkat spend so long being sad his friends are dead, and also why is he deliberately set up as the Friends Troll (blood = bonds), and then suddenly not care that multiple methods exist for bringing back his friends? Why bother softening the blow of all the dead/irrelevant alternate selves if they're intended to be fully tragic? Why introduce a mechanic that would let them save whoever they want consequence-free and then not use it to do that? Why does Roxy love wizards so much and then not get to meet the wizard boy? Why is the entire rest of Homestuck so carefully crafted, so narratively satisfying, so thematically and tonally consistent, and then all of it goes to shit right at the end?

So yeah lol this is the SHORT version lol this isnt even the LONG version of this essay

#anon i think u just like tragedies which is ok 👍

[suffarustuffaru]

Vincent for the asky thing! He's my lil blorbo

SORRY ANON FOR TAKING SO LONG WITH FHIS ASK it got lost in my drafts oops. and also again another disclaimer—i still havent gotten to reading the ex novels but i will someday i promise 😭😭 and i do not have the attention span to read 100% of arc 7 rn but i will do my best with what i know about vincent <3 ty for trusting me with ur blorbo 👍

Sexuality Headcanon: 🏳️‍🌈👍 gay. 100%.

Gender Headcanon: ok so i do know that like hes been crossdressing since he was younger to save his life and thats why hes so like chill with crossdressing and ALSO LIKE i like the idea that hes just Super Chill with playing with his gender presentation more and he likes doing it a bit!! and like will do traditionally feminine stuff??? makeup?????? idk smth along these lines. gender nonconforming king.

A ship I have with said character: VINCENT/CHISHA 10000%. like theyre one of those pairings where its like. platonic or not they WERE super close like. insanely close. but also if u read into it as being Gay it also makes So Much Sense. like?? yes ok @ottosuwuen has that hc that vincent learned makeup or something from chisha (who clearly wears eye makeup 24/7) and like. urhgh gh the image of them doing each others makeup. OK but canonically speaking vincent/chishas relationship makes me soft. LIKE YES its partially the ottosuba shipper in me bc the obvious parallels are obvious but sometimes i just really like two mansplain manipulate malewife manwhores okay. and like the way chisha does ALL OF THIS (*insert chishas bonkers plan here*) TO SAVE VINCENTS LIFE……….. and the way they met being like vincent deciding to hire chisha wkfndn…. like……… they bend over backwards for each other i feel. theres something so sweet about it and like that Intense Loyalty there….. oh to be chisha and be loyal to your emperor Like This….. and then of course the tragedy. vincent grieving chisha broke my heart :(( their relationship just really intrigues me. its so heartfelt with a clear beginning and end and it ends so SADLY but chisha did all that to save vincent!!! chisha would want vincent to move on and be happy!!! chisha and vincents relationship didnt end happy necessarily bc chishas gone :(( but their love mattered okay it matters so much to me. and vincent. and its just crazy to me how chisha can Perfectly Imitate vincent like it shows how deep their connection was. along with of course chisha doing All Of That, as ive said.

A BROTP I have with said character: subaru and vincent + vincent and prisca/priscilla 1000%. like as for subaru and vincent like. the development of their relationship over time is really interesting to me. like they foil so well—they embody these different morals and ideals and vincent really emphasizes like cunning and ruthlessness and how you just cant be a hero or save everyone or solve things bloodlessly. and then subaru tries to do shit like his bloodless siege plan and that DID work. like i think the direction for them seems to be to have moderation with these two ideals? bc of course….. subaru cant be a hero. sometimes you cant save everyone. thats just being realistic. and on the other hand, by arc 8 vincents gone and REQUESTED the emilia camps help. which is a MONUMENTAL step given vollachias viewpoints on strength and weakness and of course the fact that vincents the emperor. like i just think subaru and vincents relationship and development together has been super fascinating. vincents not mean about natsumi (unlike rem or al…) bc why would he? crossdressing has saved his life. and vincent Has learned to trust a bit and turn to others for help by arc 8 which is super interesting i think. that and well. vincent and chishas relationship and their End to it (chisha dying :<<) got subaru thinking about how sad he’d be if otto died which…… well ig vincent and subaru gonna foil some more if otto dies 😭😭😭😭😭 LMAO… but yeah anyway i love the way vincent and subaru really emphasize and symbolize the whole themes and Contrasting Ideals of the vollachia saga. it seems like theyre set up to learn from each other some more :o

AND OF COURSE vincent and prisca. i dont know much yet but <3 like they were close!!!! they cared for each other!!!! he took the time and effort to make a plan for her to fake her death and make her new identity as priscilla!! LIKE he didnt have the heart to kill her….. in an all out fight to the death brawl with his gazillion other siblings for the throne…. like that means so much. im very interested in reading their interactions sometime <3

A NOTP I have with said character: i will probs find notps im more passionate about once i like. actually read more rezero. but like the big notp rn is like. vincent/priscilla aofndndnd PLEASE. THEYRE SIBLINGS.

A random headcanon: like okay theres the makeup headcanon but also in general i like the idea of chisha also doing vincents hair when hes crossdressing and stuff. bc chisha has Long Hair so he must know some things right?? i just love the quiet intimacy of it all……. and like u could have like. u know those moments in period dramas where the assistant to royalty is helping them dress…… yeah yeah pls i need it to happen with chisha/vincent.

General Opinion over said character: im gonna be so honest rn pls dont kill me………. but tbh for a moment when i learned the arc title for arc 8 was vincent vollachia i wanted to throw hands at first. like that was my gut reaction. not because i hate vincent but like it was me just going “URHJFGHH THE TITLE DOESNT MATCH THE OTHER ARC TITLES UNTIL THIS POINT….. NOOOO…. IT DOESNT MATCH…..” like you have arc 5 for example and its called the stars that shape history or something. and its like yeah snazzy title, fits how arc 5 revolves around such a large cast of like the main players for the royal selection. arc 7 is called land of the wolves and yep makes sense. snazzy. fits pretty well. AND THEN YOU GO TO ARC 8. AND ITS CALLED. VINCENT VOLLACHIA. A WHOLE ARC NAMED AFTER A CHARACTER??? IM SORRY BUT I STILL THINK IT DOESNT MATCH WITH THE OTHER ARC TITLES…. SORRY VINCENT BUT LIKE……. UR AN AWESOME DUDE BUT………. IT COULDVE STILL BEEN A FUN TITLE THAT REFERENCED U BUT NO ITS JUST UR NAME…… SORRY MAN BUT I JUST THINK…….

otherwise like. i was mostly neutral on vincent for a while—like ive always thought he was interesting but mostly i was only neutral bc i was more distracted but whatever the fuck my blorbo subaru has going on in arc 7 aodndnd yeah i was just distracted HAH. well that and arc 7 WAS my intro to vincent (and literally everything going on with vollachias politics) so like i didnt have much interest for most of the ex novels until i got to arc 7 and suddenly gained a bunch of side character blorbos along the way. and like admittedly arc 7 is. i feel like its chaotic which—ok yeah obviously its chaotic but i always felt like arc 5 was like more tightly knit with it? like more purposeful, and it was easier for me to get invested in everyone there bc royal selection stuff has been established since the beginning and the main storys been in/around lugunica…. until arc 7. for me it was like jarring at first. especially since like. littol old me with my lack of ex novel knowledge at the time was left floundering a bit bc WOAH VOLLACHIA THINGS ALL AT ONCE…. NEW CHARACTERS…. ANOTHER NEW CHARACTER… NEW CHARACTER NUMBER 1000… and tbh i was like. it felt so sudden all at once to me so i found it hard to be super invested in SO MANY PEOPLE all at once HAH. which i get was like. it was pretty understandable to have so many people. but it took me a WHILE to get warmed up to the vollachia drama for these reasons wkdndn so yes i warmed up to vincent even more over time <33 i think the final nail in the coffin for me caring about him was like. seeing his facade crack after he gets beat up by subaru in arc 8 and he just. Cracks. and he collapses to his knees and sobs over losing chisha and its such a human moment—like i think its easy to forget vincent is still human (ESPECIALLY when vollachia loathes weakness so much!!) bc he’ll do shit like only blinking one eye at a time bc Understandable Paranoia from being Vollachia’s Emperor and he’ll be like ruthless and cunning but like in that moment hes just. crying over losing his dearest friend bc said friend made this elaborate plan to sacrifice himself to save vincent. and when vincent just asked “why did you leave me?”…… like that survivor’s guilt and distress and despair and grief is so universal and understandable…. so YEAH HAH i really softened up some more to vincent bc like i said. its such a human moment and that moment with him and subaru is like tjis big step in vincents development. its fascinating!! im interested to see what happens next in arc 8 and im interested to learn more about him <3 i took a while to get used to the vollachia drama but now i am Very intrigued. and also i know way more lore now compared to when arc 7 first started so yayy!!!!! everyday i become even more of a nerd for rezero. 😭😭 im coming for those ex novels someday. like i said.

also his names are badass ngl. vincent abellux…. vincent vollachia….. now those are names i imagine an emperor would have HAH. good stuff.

#re:zero #vincent vollachia #vincent abellux #very side note but. I WISH HIS HAIR WAS DOWN AS BIANCA INSTEAD OF THAT BRAID….. LIKE IDK I JUST FEEL LIKE HAIR DOWN WOULDVE BEEN BETTER #AND IT WOULDVE MATCHED FLOP AND NATSUMI MORE LIKE…. THEY HAVE THEIR HAIR DOWN….. LET BIANCA HAVE HAIR DOWN…. #ask #people talk to me about ex novel things and every time im like I WISH I COULD ACCESS THEM… LET ME IN…. LET ME READ!!! PLS…. PLS!!! AA A A A #every time man. #i gotta buy them tho dont i 😭😭 i dont mind bc i love rz but itll take a while if so HAH #or pray my local library has some but im not sure about that wkdndn #arc 7-8 spoilers